Bikky Pox
by badly-knitted
Summary: Bikky's caught chicken pox, to Ryo's consternation. Set somewhere in the middle of the manga. Written fof fic promptly.


**Title:** Bikky Pox

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Bikky, Ryo

 **Rating:** G

 **Setting:** Somewhere in the middle of the manga.

 **Summary:** Bikky's caught chicken pox, to Ryo's consternation.

 **Word Count:** 747

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'FAKE, Ryo + Bikky, Bikky catches chicken pox,' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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Ryo stares in disbelief at his foster son; Bikky is a mass of spots and looks thoroughly miserable. "You've got chicken pox!"

"I know that, I'm not stupid!"

"Sorry, I just assumed you'd already had it. How do you feel?"

"I itch all over, what d'you think?"

"I mean besides that."

"Tired, achy, and fed up. Ryo, please make the itching stop!"

The boy looks so pitifully pleading that Ryo almost smiles, but he restrains himself. "I'll get the calamine lotion, that should help, but I'm afraid you're in for a pretty miserable time. Just, whatever you do, don't scratch, especially your face. You'll just spread the spots further and wind up with scars."

"Ugh!" Bikky looks properly horrified at the thought of scarring himself and sets his jaw, determinedly not scratching. He's thirteen, thank you very much, and he can control the urge to scratch his spots.

Ryo's back quickly with the bottle of lotion and a bag of cotton balls. "Take your top off so I can apply this to your back." He shakes the bottle vigorously as Bikky complies. There's a yelp as the cold liquid touches the first spot. "Sorry, can't really warm this first."

"S'okay, I was just a bit surprised. Feels good really."

"You can have a cool bath later, that often helps to soothe itching. Looks like you'll be off school for a bit, at least until the spots are gone. I'll call and let them know when I'm done here, then I'll call work and take a few days off to look after you."

"Thanks, Ryo, you're the best."

"I'm certainly not going to leave you on your own while you're sick like this, you'd never be able to reach the spots on your back."

Bikky laughs at that. It's typical of Ryo to be so practical, and it reassures Bikky that he's really not at death's door, no matter how bad he feels, because Ryo would be fussing a whole lot more if he was.

"Can you manage the rest by yourself?" Ryo asks once he's anointed all the hard to reach areas.

"I think so."

"Well, if you have any difficulty, just tell me. I'd better go make those phone calls, then I'll fix breakfast. Are you hungry?"

"Not very. The inside of my mouth is sore."

"Oh. That happened to me too, when I had chicken pox as a kid."

"Really?"

"Yep. That means soft foods for you; scrambled eggs, soup, porridge, things like that."

Bikky wrinkles his nose, none of that sounds appetising right now.

"How about a glass of cold milk now and some ice cream later?"

That gets a smile. "Yeah!"

"You'll get your appetite back in a day or two, the worst part passes pretty quickly. Stay in bed if you want to, or you can rest on the sofa. I can make it up as a day bed, put sheets over it to keep you from getting lotion everywhere. That way you can watch TV or play computer games if you feel up to it."

Bikky nods. "Yes, please."

"Okay, I'll do that right after I call your school. You finish anointing yourself."

Bikky sets to with a will, wanting to at least reduce the itching to a bearable level even if he can't stop it entirely. Despite his discomfort, he's not unhappy, he feels loved and cared for, and he won't be going through this horrible ordeal by himself. He gets to stay home from school too, which is a plus, even though it means he's going to miss basketball practice.

'I'm really lucky to have such a great dad,' he thinks, putting the cap back on the lotion bottle. Perhaps later he'd better call Carol and make sure she's already had chicken pox. If she hasn't, she'll probably end up spotty and itchy too, in which case he could offer to apply lotion for her… That's a thought to be considered later though, once he's feeling a bit better. Right now he doesn't even feel much like thinking. His head aches, maybe he has spots on his brain too. Perhaps he should take a little nap before venturing into the living room, applying lotion is hard work and there'll be plenty of time for getting up later.

When Ryo brings Bikky's milk a little while later, he finds his son fast asleep. That's okay; the rest will do him more good than the milk. Hopefully he'll feel better soon.

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The End


End file.
